29 January 2011

Our beautiful daughter, Tirzah Eve, was born today at 2:23am! Weighing at 7lb, 4oz, she is just a bundle of joy! In case you don't know, Tirzah is the name found in Numbers 27, and is also the name of a beautiful city in Israel (Song of Songs 6:4)! Her name means "delightful" and Eve means "life" :)Click Here for a link to a video compilation I put together! More stuff to come!

Lauren's family arrived early this morning, and was able to meet our dear Tirzah just a few hours after being born! Just a few hours later my brother Jacob and his dear wife Kristen arrived to greet our daughter as well!

Evanston Hospital has been just wonderful. The doctors and nurses have been very caring, supportive, and helpful. The food is really good here too! Lauren is recovering very well after labor, and was quite a trooper through the whole process. The nurses and doctors were impressed with her great attitude :)

Michael and Brittany came by later on to meet our dear one, and they brought COLDSTONE CUPCAKES! This means ice cream/cake-type/cookie-like cupcakes! Pretty much the best things ever! So we all hung out and caught up for a while! Thanks guys for coming!

My good friend Tyrome (from Moody) came to visit as well! Lauren's folks took us all out (except for Lauren of course) for dinner at a tasty Middle-Eastern place on Devon!

It was a long day and I'm ready to crash. Enjoy the videos I posted! Thanks to Doc Fuder and all of our friends and family who called us to check in! We are so blessed to be supported and encouraged by you!

27 January 2011

Our Family and Friends,If you have about 6.5 minutes, check out our fall semester slideshow from 2010. Hopefully this will fill in what we've been up to this past semester (and lax on blogging)!Included are some of these events:Eating some MN apples, volunteering at a conference at Moody church, visiting MN for a few days, hanging out with friends, getting ready to move, games at work, Thanksgiving lunch with Student Council at Moody, our fathers coming down to help us with projects in our new apartment, and going home for Christmas!!Enjoy!- M&L

The heat FINALLY came back on today! 3 days of on-off heat! But our faithful church took care of us! Lauren was having minor contractions all last night, but nothing developed yet! We went for a drive and a long walk later in the afternoon (Ikea!), so that was good for Lauren to walk around a bit!Dr. appointment tomorrow! We'll keep you posted!

This afternoon our heat finally got fixed - it looks like it's gonna stay working this time too! While the heat was being worked on, we drove over to Ikea to walk around. Walking is supposed to help get labor going, and Lauren didn't want to be walking down the icy Chicago sidewalks. We had fun strolling through Ikea and didn't even buy a thing. We are just hanging out enjoying the evening together. Hope this baby makes its appearance soon!

26 January 2011

I went to Moody today. I worked, and also had a meeting with the admissions crew. I'm now a "Student Ambassador" which basically means that I hang out with prospective students, answer questions, and take them to lunch!Work was pretty chill today. I made a bunch of phone calls to my Army unit to learn about the details for this weekend's Yellow Ribbon event for the families of our deployed Soldiers. I might even be leading one of the sessions!

25 January 2011

Yep…the heat went out again! Hopefully we can get this back on soon (for Lauren’s sake)! Of course, being native Minnesotans, we can handle the low temperature, but our child, not being a Minnesotan per-say, might not like this cold weather as much!

24 January 2011

January 24, 2011
Lauren and I were finally able to sleep in for the first time since school started! It was great! The furnace repair guy was also able to fix the heat so we were able to wake up to a semi-warm apartment. By the middle of the day we had to shut off another radiator valve because it was too warm! I spent a good portion of the day replying to emails (I still have about 100 left), calling my unit to wrap up some unfinished business, and doing homework. Later that evening I took Lauren out to see a triple feature for only $1! That’s right! The “Brew and View” at the Vic is a “bar”/theater where current movies are shown and people order in food from nearby community eateries! Lauren and I scored it big when we discovered we basically were the only people there for the first movie (Megamind)! Also showing was the Social Network and a third movie that we didn’t stay for! We ordered a pizza and got one free (go Monday night specials!) and paid almost nothing for a fantastic night at the movies!
I still feel WAY behind on correspondence (thank you letters, emails, etc) and homework, but I know that God will give me the time to do what I need to, as long as I look to Him first. As I write this I realize just how much time I’m not giving Him. Maybe I should stop now and make that effort eh? :)
(Later today…) – Lauren and I sold a dresser we had on CraigsList! The person who bought it was extremely excited to get it! We were blessed to bless someone else!
Still no heat in our apt….lol
We also uploaded our first test from our Flip online! Looks sweet!
Love,
M & L

18 January 2011

This past weekend, Micah's parents drove down to spend some time with us. We had a great time hanging out watching movies, chatting, visiting the Alder Planetarium, and checking out some great restaurants. We got to go to church together too!

Micah has had a good start to his semester and Lauren has been able to go to class with him, which has been great. Lauren has doctor appointments on a weekly basis now and everything looks right on schedule with the baby.

11 January 2011

Some of Micah's family have done "baby pools" for friends and family to guess their baby's name, birth date, etc. and we thought it would be fun to do the same. If you want to play along (which you should since there are prizes involved), here's the dealio:

Part 1: Guess the birthday! When do you think Baby Mc is coming? Give a date and time.Hint: The baby's "official" due date is January 28th.

Part 2: Guess the size! Will Baby Mc be a porker? Guess the baby's weight (in lbs and ounces).

Part 3: Guess the gender! Do you think Baby Mc is a boy or a girl (yes, those are your only options :) )

Prizes:Whoever has the best birth date and/or weight guess will receive a gift card towards lunch at their favorite eatery.For those who guess the gender correctly- well you win the satisfaction of knowing you were right!

Guesses must be in by January 17th!

Comment on this posting to place your guesses!(Remember to include your name with your post)

08 January 2011

Our generous parents pooled their cash together and bought us plane tickets to come visit the first week in January. We got out of Chicago the evening of Lauren's last day of work and spent New Year's Eve hanging out with Micah's family eating lots of goodies.

The Sunday after New Year's, Danielle (Lauren's sis) threw her a baby shower. It was book themed, so guests brought a children's book in lieu of a card, we ate book and owl cupcakes, and played some games about children's books. It was a fun day! Lauren got lots of wonderful gifts - including homemade hoodie towels from Emma and an entire croqueted outfit from Grandma Johnson. Micah was allowed to join the women for opening gifts :)

We spent the next few days visiting friends and lounging around the Johnson house with Danielle. We went out for appetizers at Green Mill with some of Micah's family, Jon & Katie, and Jamey.

On Wednesday night, Micah and his dad had a bunch of guys over to watch Band of Brothers outside in the snow (they watched the winter episodes). The ladies stayed inside, wrapped in blankets, sipping hot chocolate, and watching a Jane Austen movie. Both sexes think they had the better time. :)

Lydia and Ariel put together a great shower on Thursday night - it had quite the turn out - more than 20 people! We played a few games, gabbed, and ate tasty food. Again, we were blessed by the generosity of friends and family. Ariel and Katie Brown made beautiful baby blankets and the Camplin clan pitched in to buy the baby a crib!

On Friday and Saturday all the McLellans got together to have a second (Russian) Christmas and exchange more gifts and good times. We ate well and enjoyed hanging out.

We were ready to go home on Saturday, but had a great time relaxing and hanging out with family and friends.